Last March, we reported on how the City of Chicago Planning and Development Commission had rejected a zoning change request that would have paved the way for a Wal-Mart store in the Chatham neighborhood.  At the time, the Sun-Times reported that local Ald. Howard Brookins (21st Ward) was quite upset with the lack of support from the mayor: "Brookins accused Mayor Daley of ducking the issue to avoid alienating unions that spent millions to elect a City Council more independent of the mayor."

Fast forward to March 2009. After a string of reports that Wal-Mart had revived its efforts to open several additional stores in Chicago, that push seems to be hitting another dead-end.  Crain's reports today:

The Arkansas-based discount giant, which operates a single Chicago store, says it can bring thousands of jobs to the city at a time when many are disappearing. But aldermen remain mostly opposed, and Mayor Richard M. Daley, who three years ago engaged in a bitter political battle over an ordinance dictating minimum wages at "big-box" retailers, isn't itching for a rematch. [...]

Wal-Mart "would be welcome to come to Chicago if they gave their workers the right, if they so desire, to organize," says Alderman Joe Moore (49th), a union ally. "We are simply asking them for that level of fairness."

For Wal-Mart, that's a non-starter.

The mega-retailer's logic seemed to be that the ongoing economic woes would soften opposition to the chain's low-wages and questionable benefits.  In fact, local politicians and labor unions expressed the same objections they have been citing for years -- specifically, that Wal-Mart refuses to subject itself to a living wage requirement.  Those concerns were only heightened by the fact that the corporation has continued to post considerable profits in this economic environment.

Perhaps by next March the corporation will see the light and decide to make some concessions in favor of Chicago workers.